The present disclosure is generally in the field of implantable medical devices, and more particularly relates to systems and methods of selectively removing a drug delivery device from a body cavity or lumen, such as the bladder.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0202151 and No. 2009/0149833 describe drug delivery devices for minimally invasive deployment and retention in a cavity or lumen of a patient, such as the bladder. The device may be configurable into a relatively low profile for minimally invasive deployment into the patient's body, and once implanted may spontaneously assume, or be configured to take, a relatively expanded profile to cause the device to be resistant to excretion and retained in the bladder over the course of delivering its drug payload to the body of the patient. In one embodiment, the patient subsequently must undergo an additional medical procedure to retrieve the drug-depleted device from the patient's body. Alternatively, a retrieval string may be attached to the deployed device to run transurethrally, but this is not viable for longer periods of deployment to due the risk of infection and/or inadvertent dislodgement.
It therefore would be desirable to provide devices and methods that avoid the necessity of retrieving the drug delivery device after the drug payload has been released from the device. It also would be desirable to facilitate selective removal of the device from the patient's bladder.